CPTnet
November 26, 2001
CHIAPAS UPDATE: October 23- November 6, 2001

[Note from the Chiapas team: ³Our team has been concurrently operating
and keeping log entries in several different communities."]

Tuesday, October 23

Quextic Centro
Keith Young and Aaron Blythe went to Acteal to bring back school supplies.
While in Acteal, they spoke with a returned Mesa Directiva from Colonia
Puebla. (The Mesa Directiva is the governing board of the Abejas.)
He mentioned that the public security officers were occupying the
community's meeting house, and that the Abejas wanted them to leave.

Wednesday, October 24

Quextic Centro
Blythe and Young visited Poblado Quextic to tell people there that
other CPTers were coming. The two also attended a meeting in Quextic
Centro, where there was talk of a new road being built to connect Quextic
with the highway.

Thursday, October 25

San Cristobal
Freeman, Holmes and Kindy attended the 'Evaluation Meeting' of the Abejas
returns at the FrayBa Center (a Catholic human rights organization.) The
meeting turned out to focus more on the human rights lawyer who was
assassinated in Mexico City in the previous month.

Quextic Centro
Blythe and Young joined in the building of a house, and did
the best they could to straighten nails, etc. Blythe and Young were
surprised when Angie Freeman, Bob Holmes and Cliff Kindy arrived in the
dark.

Friday, October 26

Quextic Centro
Blythe and Kindy met with two FrayBa accompaniers, who would be in Poblado
Quextic for for two weeks.

Tzajalhucum
After visiting the Abejas office in Acteal, Freeman, Holmes and Young
arrived in Tzajalhucum. They had an opportunity to learn more
about the community's history, included the events that took place before
the Abejas left for X'oyep and ultimately Acteal.

Saturday, October 27

Quextic Centro
Blythe and Kindy went up to Canolal, and surprised a Public Security police
crew as they passed. In Canolal, they talked with two Abejas, who said that
all was calm in the community. On their way back, they talked with a
friendly Canolal Public Security guard, who talked of being part of the
clean-up crew following the massacre in Acteal.

Later Blythe and Kindy talked with an officer at the military
base/social labour camp in Chimix who spoke of of the 80-100 people they
feed each day. After Blythe and Kindy returned to Quextic, a community
member there told them that number is closer to 30 people.

Tzajalhucum
Freeman and Young were having a quiet day, when several musicians passed
through the community. The two followed them to the Presbyterian Church,
and Young recognized the musicians as residents of Colonia Puebla. Freeman
and Young joined the Presbyterian service that evening.

Sunday, October 28

Quextic
The military camp guard from the previous day and a companion entered the
community to invite Blythe and Kindy to join the commanding officer for a
meal. They were concerned about how the Abejas would interpret the
invitation.

Tzajalhucum
Following the service, Freeman
and Young joined Las Abejas in the school for a meeting to decide how to
organize for hosting accompaniers in the future.

Holmes returned from San Cristobal, and the three walked through the
community of Pechiquil to the military base and had a short conversation
with two guards
there.

In the evening, an Abeja member came to the church where the three
were staying to pray. He mentioned that there were some threats made by two
unknown men regarding the situation after all the Abejas return to their
villages and the human rights accompaniers leave.

Monday, October 29

Quextic
Two armed public security officers were seen in Quextic Centro and
Poblado, and were accompanied by a PRI supporter (PRI is the Mexican
political party that has dominated the Mexican government for the last
seventy years.)

Blythe and Kindy walked to Acteal to meet with the Mesa, in order to talk
about the previous days' events. They were encouraged by the Mesa to join
the commander for a meeting the next day, without partaking in the meal, and
to discuss the
issue of armed officers entering the communities.

Tzajalhucum
The teacher at the Abejas school joined them in the church. The Abejas
children are schooled separately from the village residents who did flee
the village several years ago, because the Abejas did not and cannot
contribute financially to the school built by the PRI supporters in the
community.

Tuesday, October 30

Quextic
Blythe and Kindy visited the military base in Chimix (see forthcoming
article, ³The Mexican Major and the Canadian Penny.") Blythe and Kindy
also visited the Public Security base, where they asked the police not to
bring weapons with them into communities. The Public Security police told
them they would comply with the request.

Colonia Puebla/Yashgemal
Freeman, Holmes and Young walked to Yashgemal and Puebla, stopping in at
Chuchtic, where they visited with the schoolteachers and some members of the
community.

In Yashgemal, the team visited the new Abejas cooperative store, and was
greeted by Abejas members. They continued on to visit in Puebla. Some
Abejas members they met with reported that they would like to organize a
meeting regarding the community meeting building, currently occupied by
Public Security, and that the Abejas
children have still not started school. The team stayed in Yashgemal.

Wednesday, October 31

Yashgemal/Tzajalhucum
Team awoke to the sound of Young smashing a tarantula. The three went for a
drive with some Indymedia journalists. They returned to Tzajalhucum for
night.

Thursday, November 1

Acteal
All five team members traveled to Acteal for the All Saints' Day service,
led by Padre Pedro. Following the service, the team
met to continue discussion on CPT's role in Chiapas. Another international
accompanier joined the team briefly, and shared some of the history of
Tzajalhucum before and after the massacre in Acteal, including how the PRI
supporters in the community held the Abejas community hostage.

Friday, November 2

X'oyep
Freeman, Kindy and Young
traveled on to Polho and X'oyep. The three were not granted passes to visit
Polho, a Zapatista community, and hiked around the community to X'oyep,
where they met with three Abejas members. The Abejas expressed concerns
about the war the US is currently waging in Afghan